“H. Earl of Ogle.
“1665, December 1. An engagement not to marry again so long as he had a son by his present wife, and to settle all his property on his wife and children as soon as he should be free to do so after the death of his father. Signet.”
It is scarcely conceivable that a son should be asked solemnly to bind himself, in the case of his wife’s death, never to marry again so long as a son of hers should be living! Yet, if this summary of the document in question is correct, so it must have been.
It is clear that Newcastle arranged, or endeavoured to arrange, all the marriages and matchmakings of his children and grandchildren. In reply to one of his attempted bargains, in the marriage market, he received the following gentle snub.[150]
[150] Welbeck MSS., p. 149.